Radio equipment with chest mounted speaker-microphone assembly



Feb. 20, 1968 R. H. WALKER 3,370,236

RADIO EQUIPMENT WITH CHEST MOUNTED SPEAKER-MICROPHONE ASSEMBLY FiledJan. 30, 1967 INVENTOR ROBERT H. WALKER BY 22 m z VZMM ATTORNEYS.

331M236 Patented Feb. 20, 1968 3,370,236 RADIO EQUIPMENT WITH CHESTMOUNTED SPEAKER-MICROPHONE ASSEMBLY Robert H. Walker, Morton Grove,11]., assignor to Motorola, Inc., Franklin Park, IlL, a corporation ofIllinois Filed Jan. 30, 1967, Ser. No. 612,530 9 Claims. (Cl. 325-16)ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLQSURE Background of the invention Portable two-waycommunication equipment, that is, equipment which is carryable by aperson and includes all the components necessary to talk and listen to aperson in a remote location is widely used today. Where the personrequires the free use of his hands for their duties, it is desirablethat the equipment be mounted on his clothing.

A drawback of presently used systems which are adapted to be mounted ona persons clothing arises from the fact that the housing containing thespeaker and the microphone is so firmly attached as to requireunclipping, unbuckling or some other similar operation other than merelypulling. This is particularly disadvantageous when the equipment is tobe worn by a police officer, who, in a fight with a criminal, may belashed about by merely grabbing the housing. Also, there are somesituations where the wearer wants to hold the speaker and microphonewhich is difficult with such systems where the mounting is relativelypermanent.

An additional disadvantage of present day clothing mounted radioequipment is that the antenna is located close to the receiving andtransmitting equipment, which due to its weight is desirably mounted onthe waist. However, with such a construction, if the wearer is sittingin an automobile, the antenna is well below the window level with theresult that the metal structure in the automobile may degrade thereceiving and transmitting capabilities.

Summary the invention It is, therefore, an object of this invention toprovide two-way radio equipment having an antenna supported on a housingcontaining the speaker and the microphone, with the housing attached tothe chest area of a persons clothing so that the antenna is high enoughto preclude interference with incoming and outgoing signals bysurrounding metal structure.

Another object is to detachably afiix a housing containing a speaker anda microphone to the chest area of a persons clothing so that it may beremoved therefrom by merely pulling on it.

Another object is to permit simple removal and insertion of the housingcontaining a speaker and a microphone from a shirt mounted receptaclefor hand held operation.

A further object is to mount the housing containing the speaker and themicrophone on the chest area of a persons clothing to allow the wearerto speak into it with minimum head movement.

A further object is to provide a personal communications assembly havingthe cable connecting the speakermicrophone to the transmitter-receiverheld close to the body to provide an attractive appearance.

In practicing the invention, portable two-way radio equipment includes afirst unit adapted to be attached to the belt of the user and a secondunit adapted to be attached to the users clothing at the chest. Afastening device for the second unit is permanently attached to thechest area of the clothing and removably attached to a receptacle. Thesecond unit includes a housing containing a speaker and a microphone andsupporting an antenna, with the housing having a downwardly extendingmember removably inserted into the open end of the receptacle andbearing thereagainst to maintain the housing in position. The first unitincludes receiving and transmitting equipment and is mounted at thewaist area of the persons clothing and is electrically connected to thesecond unit by a cable. The cable has a coiled section to maintain thesame in a fixed position against the clothing.

Brief description of the drawings Detailed description FIG. 1illustrates a two-way radio unit including a portable unit 10 mounted ina leather casing 11. The

unit contains receiving and transmitting equipment and may be removedfrom the case 11 by unbuckling a flap 12. The belt 14 passes throughaloop (not shown) on the back of casing 11 to hold the portable unitfirmly in position. A housing 16 mounted on the chest area of thepolicemans shirt 17 contains a speaker and a microphone and is in aconvenient position to permit speaking and listening without removingthe housing or appreciable head movement. An antenna 18 connected to thetop of the housing is high enough on the policemans body to permiteffective reception and transmission even though he may be sitting in anautomobile. A cable 20 provides electrical connection between thespeaker and the microphone in the housing 16, the antenna 18 and thereceiving and transmitting equipment in the portable unit 10. Apush-to-talk switch 21 is mounted on the side of housing 16 to permitselection between receiving and transmitting.

Referring now to FIG. 2 to show the connection of housing 16 to thechest area of the persons clothing, the shirt 17 is provided with aplurality of female snaps 22. These snaps form fastening means which arepermanently attached to the shirt 17. Connecting means 24 has acorresponding plurality of male snaps 26 for engagement with the femalesnaps 22. The connecting means 24 are easily removable from the snaps 22to permit laundering of the shirt. A receptacle 28 is permanentlyattached to the connecting means 24 and includes a trapezoidally shapedback portion 30 with a pair of sloped sides 32 and 33 and a pair ofunequal length parallel sides 34 and 36. A pair of front portions 38 and40 are integrally and respectively connected to the sloped sides 32 and33. The portions 38 and 40 are spaced from one another by a gap 42 andare parallel to the back portion 30.

A member 44 is attached to the housing 16 and includes a trapezoidallyshaped first portion 46 having a pair of sloped sides corresponding tothose of receptacle 28 and a pair of unequal length parallel sidescorresponding to 3 and shorter in length than those of the receptacle. Asecond portion 48 is attached to the housing with a center web 50joining portions 46 and 48 together. Web 50 has a width less than thesize of gap 42 of receptacle 28.

The member 44 is removably inserted downwardly into the receptacle 28 sothat the portion 46 is positioned within the space between the frontportions 38 and 40 and the back portion 30 of receptacle 2S, and web 50of member 44 is within gap42 of the receptacle. The corresponding slopesof the sides of the member and the receptacle maintain the housing fromfalling through the receptacle. The back portion 30 of receptacle 28 mayhave a pair of nubs 52 and 54 and the first portion 46 of member 44 mayhave a corresponding pair of indentations 56 and 58 which may be used tolock the member 44 in the receptacle 28 by engagement of the nubs withthe indentations.

This arrangement for connecting the housing to the shirt is particularlyadvantageous for use in police operations. If the policeman has to fightwith a criminal, it is most desirable that there be few parts on thepolicem-ans clothing which the criminal may grab on to and lash thepoliceman about. By providing the snap type arrangement to attach theconnecting means 24 to the shirt 17, the housing 16 does not providesuch means for if the criminal grabs on to it, it will merely pull offthe policemans shirt.

Referring back to FIG. 1, it is desirable that the cable 20 connectingthe housing 16 and the portable unit 10 be maintained relatively fiatagainst the body so that it presents an attractive appearance and doesnot interfere with the policemans free movement. Rather than accomplishthis by providing a tight connection between the housing and theportable unit which would be uncomfortable to the persomand subject thecable to possible damage and perhaps open the connection to the unit atconnector 59, a coiled section 60 is provided in the cable and an anchor62 connects the cable 20 to the belt 14. The cable 20 has a lower loopedportion 64 which is relatively short so as not to interfere withmovement and is hanging freely so as not to stress the cable atconnector 59. Instead the stress is between anchor 62 and the housing 16which is vertical and gives due to the coiled section so that theconnection to the housing is not likely to open. The anchor 62 may be ofthe type and having the connections shown in FIG. 3.

An additional advantage of the coiled section 60 is that the same cablemay be used by persons of different heights since the length of thecable can change. Also, it is not necessary that the nubs 52 and 54 ofreceptacle 28 engage the indentations 56 and 58 of member 44 to keep thehousing in position. The tension created by the coiled section 60 willimpart a downward force to the housing so that it will not fall out ofthe receptacle even if the user bends over. Thus the housing is readilyusable as a handheld device by simply pulling upwards, to remove it.When finished, the user merely inserts the member 44 back into itsreceptacle and due to the trapezoidally shaped parts, this may be donewithout looking because the sloped sides of the receptacle and themember provides automatic positioning, with the coiled section 60maintaining the housing in position.

Referring now to FIG. 4 to illustrate further conveniences in theoverall system, the top of the portable unit 10 includes a button-typesquelch 66 which maintains the receiver in a constant squelchedcondition and is depressed only when it is desired to determine if thereceiver is properly working. There is also provided a frequencyselection switch 68 which permits selection between one of twofrequencies either for transmitting or receiving. There is also shown acombination volume on-off control 70. All these controls are larger thanusual in order to permit the policeman to operate them without looking.

What has been described, therefore, is a system to be worn entirely onthe persons clothing with a speaker microphone combination removablyattached to the persons shirt to provide fast removal.

I claim:

1. A speaker-microphone assembly for use with a portable unit containingreceiving and transmitting equipment which is adapted to be mounted on apersons clothing below the chest area, such speaker-microphone assemblybeing adapted to be mounted on the chest area of the clothing andincluding in combination: fastening means to be permanently attached tothe chest area of the clothing, a receptacle having an opening thereinfacing upwardly, connecting means permanently attached to saidreceptacle and removably attached to said fastening means, a housingcontaining a speaker and a microphone, a downwardly extending memberattached to the housing and removably inserted into said receptacle,said member bearing against said receptacle to maintain the housingfirmly in position, a cable having one end thereof mechanicallyconnected to said housing and electrically connected to said speaker andto said microphone and the. other end to be connected to the portableunit, and means i to maintain said cable in a fixed position against thepersons clothing.

2. The assembly of claim 1, said means to maintain said cable in a fixedposition including an anchor attached to the cable and adapted to beattached to the persons belt, said last mentioned means furtherincluding a coiled section in said cable between said anchor and the endof the cable connected to said housing for reducing tension in the cableat the connection to the portable unit while maintaining the cable in afixed position against the persons clothing.

3. The assembly of claim 1 further including an antenna mechanicallyconnected to the top of said housing and electrically coupled to saidcable to provide maximum height thereof and therefore optimum receptionand trans mission by the portable unit.

4. The assembly of claim 1, said fastening means including a pluralityof given type snaps, said connecting means having a plurality ofopposite type snaps individually associated with said given type snapsfor engage ment therewith.

5. The assembly of claim 1, said receptacle having a trapezoidallyshaped plan section with a given size opening at the top thereof and areduced size at the bottom, said receptacle having a back sidepermanently attached to said connecting means, said member having atrapezoidal shape to permit insertion thereof into the given sizeopening in said receptacle.

6. The assembly of claim 1, said receptacle having a trapezoidallyshaped back portion with a pair of sloped sides and a pair of unequallength parallel sides, and a pair of front portions integrally connectedto said sloped sides and in parallel spaced relation with said backportion, said front portions having a gap between them, the longer ofsaid parallel sides along with said front portions forming said opening,said downwardly extending member including a trapezoidally shaped firstportion having a pair of unequal length parallel sides which correspondto and are slightly shorter in length than said parallel sides of saidback portion .of said receptacle, said member further including a secondportion attached to said hOUS'. mg and a center portion integrallyconnecting said first and second portions together and having a widthcorresponding to the size of the gap between said front portrons, saidfirst portion of said member being removably inserted. into the spacebetween said front and back por tions of said receptacle, wherebyautomatic vertical positioning of the housing is achieved.

7. The assembly of claim 6, said back portion having a nub .and saidfront portion of said member having a corresponding indentation topermit locking said member in said receptacle by engagement of said nubwith said indentation.

8. Portable two-way radio equipment including in combination, a firstunit including a housing containing a speaker and a microphone and beingadapted to be mounted on the chest area of a persons clothing said firstunit further including an antenna supported on said housing, a secondunit containing receiving and trasmitting equipment and being adapted tobe mounted on the clothing below the chest area, fastening meanspermanently attached to the chest area of the clothing, a receptaclehaving an opening therein facing upwardly, connecting means permanentlyattached to said receptacle and removably attached to said fasteningmeans, said first unit further including a downwardly extending memberattached to the housing and removably inserted in said receptacle andbearing thereagainst to maintain the housing firmly in position, a cableconnecting said first and second units and having a coiled section toprovide a safe amount of tension in said cable.

9. A radio equipment of claim 8, further including an anchor attached tothe cable between said coiled section and the connection to said secondunit, said anchor adapted to be attached to the persons belt formaintaining the cable in a fixed position against the persons clothingwhile reducing tension in the cable at the connection to the secondunit.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS JOHN W. CALDWELL. PrimaryExaminer.

